I just had to make it to the water.
I started running faster, pumping my legs as hard as I could. I couldn’t feel my lungs, could barely hear the beast’s screeches over the sound of my own heartbeat.
I cursed the stupid slip Dahes forced me to wear. He didn’t want me in my hides because he wanted me to look believable for a Morianncommoner—a perfectdamsel. Only now, the stupid material ripped at the seams and the burns on my feet were throbbing.
I tripped over a branch, a piece of bark scraping against the bottom of my foot, bursting one of my blisters. I fell flat on my face as the next screech roared louder.
Shit.
I recited every prayer I’d ever heard, praying to the two Sun Goddesses and all Six Moon Gods that this wasn’t how I went out. I wasn’t ready to find out what Dahes could do to me in death.
But then I heard it. The roar of the waterfall grew louder. I looked up, practically sobbing as I saw it.
I had tripped right into an opening of a clearing. The trees were more spaced out as the forest thinned before meeting the lake’s edge.
Rising on shaking legs, I dove head first into the water, not stopping to think if this section was even deep enough. At least if I cracked my neck it’d be a hell of a faster death than one by teeth and talons.
Talliks relented nothing during a hunt, not stopping until it devoured whatever it was chasing, but it did so strategically.
It was another terrifying fact about them—Talliks were intelligent—and the second it learned the water wasn’t deep, it’d follow me in.
Was there really a difference between getting ripped apart on land versus in the water?
But as soon as I dove, I kept going. My neck didn’t snap.
The lake was deep, really mercifully, gloriously deep.
I forced my eyes open past the sting and couldn’t see the bottom, which meant if it was bloodthirsty enough and slithered in after me, it’d drown.
Probably the only good thing that had happened to me all day.
I kept swimming, putting myself as far away from the bank as I could get. The lake was long, but the section I came to wasn’t wide. And even though I knew I was safe, I kept imagining its long talons piercing my leg and dragging me out of the water.
I swam deeper. And deeper, staying under the surface.
My lungs were on fire, my head dizzy, my vision blurring. I needed air. I turned around, still under the water. I couldn’t see the edge of thebank. The lake was darker than I thought it’d be, and I hadn’t given myself time to think about what other creatures and monsters I could be swimming with.
Dahes wasn’t allowed to send any monsters into Viven directly, but I was technically still on neutral territory. The Black Sands were central, with the cliffs being common ground on Moriann’s side, while the forest was the one on Viven’s, but no kingdom owned one more than the other. All three landmarks were fair game. So for all I knew, Dahes could have put monsters into the Inyaer. Either centuries ago before the end of the war or maybe even hours before this. What if the Tallik wasn’t the only beast he sent after me?
Immediately, I gunned toward the surface. When I broke the water, I inhaled, finally catching my breath for the first time since I left Moriann.
The Tallik screeched at the bank where I’d jumped in. Its torso raised, only a portion of its snake-like body left on the ground, making it almost as tall as the trees canopying over us.
Four arms came out of its thick, scaly chest all ending in sharp talons, and down its back were thick thorns similar to the ones on Dahes’ throne. It honestly made me question if it was actually Tallik thorns that made up the seat. They were both white. It was the one widely known fact about Talliks—their skin was translucent and they didn’t stop their hunt until they rolled in their prey’s blood. By the time they were finished, every inch of their scales were painted red.
I kept my eyes trained on it, never looking away, as I tried to swim backward toward the waterfall.
It moved immediately. One second it was across from me, the next it came to the side, sliding its body over the rocks of the fall, trying to get better access to me. Its talon slashed the water a few feet in front of me before it wailed and retreated.
Its teeth snapped, the first two rows hitting before the last two clamped down. It was the second row that did the most damage, when it locked onto something there was no unclamping it.
I cursed as I realized my hands were now bare. I’d dropped my dagger when I fell into the clearing…
A roar sounded overhead at the same time the Tallik screeched, leaning back to gain momentum before it tried to reach me again.
I didn’t have time to look up before heat clung to the air and fire erupted around the bank. I ducked under the surface, just barely missing the wave of fire that exploded everywhere.
I stayed under until I couldn’t anymore, watching as the flames hissed and receded across the surface. Everything was hot when I forced myself to come back up to breathe. I hadn’t realized how cold the lake was before, how my entire body was numb, until the fire heated the water a couple of degrees.
